I have a 15 year old field grade Boat Paddle box call made by Quaker Boy that plays real nice. It grabs 'em by the ears from a long ways off. I use it on windy days and for distance calling. I wish I could find another like it just to have a spare. I'm not sure when they quit making that model, but it has been a good one to me.

I suspect like most any production made things, there's going to be some variance even though the same materials are being used. I suppose that's what makes some refrigerators run for 20 years and others just like it to be lemons. That boat paddle call was on a card under a plastic bubble and I had no way to tell if it was going to sound decent until after I opened the package and started learning how to play it.

I also have an HS Strut 360SL slate that sounds pretty good. Unfortunately, it is also out of production. I used it for around 11 years to call in 25 turkeys to their deaths (I killed 18 with it and friends killed the other 7 turkeys) before I switched over to a Willow Ridge Slate a few years ago.

Most everything I use now are custom made calls. Plenty of turkeys are called in using production calls though. If you learn how to make it sound good, it should work well. That's one of the good things about turkey hunting, their voices are different enough that a lot of different types of calls work well at getting the birds close enough for a shot.